Chief has a new home

We put a saddle on him today

I went over to see Chief today. Jaye had brushed him and put a saddle pad on him, then he thought it would be a good idea to roll. He was dirty and the saddle pad was laying on the ground when I arrived. So I brushed him again and put a different pad on him. He is a very nice horse, very expressive and will give you his opinion about things. He was telling me that he really didn't want to wear a saddle pad. He walked away a couple of times so I did what I could to take the pressure off, gave him treats, scratched him and brushed him. I guess that was okay because then he was okay with the pad and the saddle. The bridle was different. It took Jaye and I quite a while to help him feel okay about it. His ears are sensitive (mostly the right one) and I am guessing that he has always been handled without much thought to how he felt about things. He finally accepted the bridle and off we went for a walk. Jaye rode Striker behind us. It went well, we stopped soon after we got out on the rode and I think he had too many thoughts going through his head all at once. It could have been that we were standing in mud and water, or that the trees around us were too scary, or that Striker was behind us, or just all of it at once but he stopped thinking for a few minutes and had a small melt down. As soon as I had his attention and he was calm again we went back. He was feeling okay and glad to be home. We gave him lots to think about today, so I made sure to leave on a good note. He was back in the round pen so I went in with more treats. At first he walked away from me, probably wondering "What Now?!" I crouched down in the middle of the paddock with my hand out holding a treat. It only took a couple of minutes and he came back to me happy that I only wanted to feed him. I'm going to try to get over there and walk him a couple of times a week. He really needs to build some muscle in his hind end.

Shedding out

Normally, I HATE shedding out horses. I prefer to wait until they do it naturally. I don't care how muddy they get, I'd rather not eat/breathe/wear the hair. But, grooming a shedding horse is very satisfying when the horse himself enjoys it so much. Chief really enjoys it. In fact, he asked me to shed out his cheeks and even pluck dead hair from around the base of his ears.

I wish I could find one or two people to come over and groom with me!

A Visit

Friend came to visit on Sunday. I had gotten used to Chief being easy with us and was surprised at first that he resisted her approaches. He was responding to her like he did to us when he first came. So his trust of us does not extend to new people. Did I really think it would?

He expressed his Opinions and Left, but eventually she coaxed him in with softness and promises of a friendly way. It was neat to watch his attention change from wariness to curiosity to understanding and trust.

Trimmin' dem feet

I trimmed Chief's back hooves yesterday. I explained to him what I needed to do, sympathized and asked his permission and tried to get started sans halter. He walked away. I explained some more and promised to be careful. He walked away again. I told him some more about what I had planned and I showed him my tools. Eventually, I was able to trim both hooves with my hoof knife without any restraint but he couldn't stay with me so I could use the nippers & rasp and my nifty new hoof stand. I went to the barn and got a halter, explaining more all the time. He allowed me to halter him and I put the lead rope on the ground and finished the job. He never tried to leave once. In fact, he picked his hooves up for me and was as compliant as could be. It would have been nice to be able to finish without the halter, but what the heck. I certainly wasn't restraining him. Maybe wearing the halter helped him feel restrained, but he wasn't resentful at all.

His feet look much better. Interesting horse.

Vet visit

Vet came yesterday and the horse had his shots, a Coggins test drawn, his teeth floated and his sheath cleaned.

Exam $25

EWT/RF $41

WNV $30

Ragives $19

Sedation $38

Power float $110

Sheath $40

Coggins $38

Total $341.

Donations are still cheerfully accepted. ;)

Weight update

Chief taped in at approximately 960 pounds, give or take, today. The vet hasn't been able to make it yet due to snowstorms - we're trying again for this coming Wednesday.

The old boy is eating well. He doesn't put away as much hay as the other horses, but he sure does enjoy his meals! I should get video of him digging into his dinner sometime. And play the "Jaws" theme in the background...

He is such a kind and gentle horse. We need to find him a human to dote on him. He would be good for a child or a timid person who wants to have a horse for a friend.